Edu-02: Developmental perspectives of learner

                                         Schools of psychology

           In the past, psychologists often identified themselves exclusively with one single school of thought. They often today draw on eccentric outlook on psychology. Draw on ideas and theories from different schools rather than holding on to any singular perspective. The different schools of psychology represent the major theories within psychology.

          The following are some of the major schools of thought that have influenced our knowledge and  understanding of psychology.

                                Structuralism:

        Structuralism is widely regarded as the first school of thought in psychology. This outlook focused on breaking down mental process into the most basic components. The focus of structuralism was on reducing mental processes down on their most basic elements. Major thinkers associated with this include Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener. He tried to understand the structure of mind and developed a rigorous system. The main objective was to study immediate conscious experience in a scientific way. Psychological investigations consists of the sum total of facts of which we are conscious. He attempted to analyze human experiences using experimental introspection to study them.

         E.B Tichner (1867-1927) was student of Wundt who carried systematic research on the lines of Wunditian traditions. Tichner defined psychology as the analytical study of the generalised adult normal human mind through introspection to describe mental structure. Structuralism made many positive contributions to the science of psychology. It freed psychology from metaphysics. It gave a careful experimental method of data collection. Though it has its positive impact on educational psychology and education, it had been severely criticized by psychologists. It emerged out of laboratory experiments in Germany. It had its impact on contemporary education. The spirit of science and emphasis on the experimentation was the contribution of structuralism. It laid emphasis on systematic observation of the activities of mind.

      The limitations are: It is too subjective, the use of introspection as a method of study led to the lack of reliability. It is concerned with internal behavior which is not directly observable and cannot be accurately measured. It uses too many elementary sensations. It lacks of means for understanding the process of thought. It had purely descriptive and analytical approach. 

                              Behaviorism

          Behaviorism became a dominant school of thought during the 1950s. Behaviorism is an approach to psychology that combines the elements of philosophy, methodology and theory. It was based upon the work of thinkers such as J.B Natson, Ivan parlor, B.F Skinner.

         Behaviorism suggests that all behavior can be  explained by environmental cause rather than by internal forces. Behaviorism is focused on observable behavior. Theories of learning include classical conditioning and operant conditioning were the focus of great deal. It says that human and animal behavior can be explained in terms of conditioning without appeal through feelings and that psychological disorder and are treated by altering behavior patterns.

        The behavioral school of psychology had a significant influence on the cause of psychology and many of the ideas and techniques that emerged from this school of thought are still widely used today. Behavioral training, token economics, aversion therapy and other techniques are frequently used in psychotherapy and behavior modification programs.

        Other contributions include- 

1. Behaviorism has greatly contributed to the psychology of learning and motivation

2. It brought psychology away from the controversy of mentalistic approach to human behavior.

3. It has impressed all areas of psychology as emotions and child behavior.

4. It has given new methodology of teaching known as programmed learning which has been successfully used in many countries.

5. It lays emphasis on the importance of environment and its impact on human growth.

6. It believes that all behavior is learned in the constant process of interaction with the environment

7. It has developed new methods and techniques of dealing with maladjustment in children.

                             Functionalism

             Functionalism formed as a reaction to the theories of the structural school of thought and was heavily influenced by the work of William James (1842-1910) at the university of Harvard. Functionalism as defined by R.S Woodworth is a psychology that attempts to give accurate and systematic answer to the question- ‘’what do men do and why the do it?” But the school of functionalism flourished in the university of Chicago and Colombia in America against a protest of purely descriptive and analytical approach of structuralism. It functioned on the mind’s functions and adaptations. Unlike some of the other well known schools of thought in psychology, functionalism is not associated with a single dominant psychologist. Instead there are some different functionalist thinkers associated with this outlook including John Dewery, James Rowland Angell and Harvey Carr.

           Instead of focusing on the mental processes themselves, functionalist thinkers were instead in the note that these processes play. 

                   Psycho-analytic Theory

           Psycho analysis is a school of psychology Founded by Sigmund Freud. This school of thought emphasized the influence of the unconscious mind on behavior.

               Freud believed that the human mind was composed of three instincts: the Id, ego and super ego. The Id consists of primary urges while the ego is the component  of personality charged with dealing with reality. The super ego is the part of personality that holds all of the ideals and values we internalize from our parents and culture. Freud believed that the interaction of these three instincts was what led to all of the complex human behaviors. Other major psycho analytic thinkers include Anna Freud, Carl Jung, Erik Erickson.

               Freud was the first psychologist who placed great importance on instincts as the determinant of human behavior. He proposed two instincts: 1) Enos-the love and the self preservation, 2) Thanatos- the death instinct as the ultimate cause of all human activity.

               Psychic structure: Psychic energy according to Freud comes from libido. It denotes sexual energy. When he revised his theory which includes two groups of instincts, the libido was defined as the energy of all life instincts. The sexual li6bido was regarded as the source of primary deriving force of the personality.

              The dynamics of personality is seen as largely governed by the need to gratify the libido. It contributes to understand personality mechanism, all the social sciences as regards their approach to human behavior.

                                 Humanism

               Humanism was developed as a response to psycho analysis and behaviorism. Human psychology instead focused on individual free will, personality growth and the concept of self actualization. While early schools of thought were primarily centered on abnormal human behavior, humanists psychology differed considerably in its emphasis on hepling people achieve and fulfill their potentials.

                Major thinkers include: Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers. The fundamental belief of humanistic psychology were that people are innately good with mental and social problems resulting from deviations from this natural tendency. Humanist psychology further was referred as ‘third force’ in the psychology.

                          Gestalt psychology

                   Gestalt psychology is a school of psychology based upon the idea that we experience things as unified wholes. This approach to psychology began in Germany and Austria driving the late 19th century in response to the molecular approach of structuralism. It developed as a movement against the theory of behaviorism and conditioning.

                  Max Wertheimer became the founder of Gestalt psychology worked with Kulpe for his PhD.  The Wurzburg school from 1901-1909 conducted a number of experiments on thought process which had direct relevance to Gestalt. The next important contribution was made by Edgar Rubin and Franz Brenato on phenomenology and Act psychology.

                  There are mainly 4 principles to Gestalt psychology: Principle of totality, principle of psychophysical isomorphism, phenomenon experimental analysis, Biotic experiment.

                  It gives importance to the thoughts like-whole is important, phenomenological approach, opposition to quantification, measuring tools unreliable, law of perception, law of psychophysical isomorphism, insight etc.

                  Gestaltists emphasizes the importance perception of relation, organization and wholes in teaching and learning. It gives importance to molar behavior approach. Experiences cannot be broken into stimulus-response connections. Environment plays an important role in the development of personality. Goals and purposes have importance in learning. They say that teacher must see individual goals tensions which is reduced by action on the part of the learners.

                               Cognitivism

                    This new school of psychology is the result of the wave of intellectualism demonstrating faith in man’s higher cognitive abilities and capacity to adapt to his environment and struggle for perfection.  This school of psychology studies mental processes including how people think, perceive, remember and learn, memory, language development, imagery and other mental processes in order to peep into higher human mental functions like insight creativity and problem solving. As part of a larger field of science this branch is related to other disciplines including neuroscience, philosophy and linguistics.

                    Cognitive psychology began to emerge during the 1950s partly as opposition to stimulus-response approach of behaviorists. The stages of cognitive development theory was proposed by Jean Piaget, Edward Tolman, Kate Mc Gilly are the other cognists.

                     Cognitivism has some of its applications in education. It says that students are not learning to their full potential due to the fact that more often than not, they use note memory procedure in the classroom. With the increased competition in the work force and job becoming more demanding, students need to be more prepared for higher learning and the job market with skills that evolve from cognitive theory. These skills including study skills, problem solving and organizational skills to name a few should be taught and integrated across the curriculum.

                               Conclusion

                  To conclude different psychologists at different times have expressed their views to explain the why and how of human behavior. This has led to establishment to different schools of thought or systems of psychology affecting the products and the processes of education.

                                Reference

Google, Wikipedia, Verywellmind.com